Presiden Brasil Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva menghadiri KTT Organisasi Perjanjian Kerja Sama Amazon, di Belem, Brasil pada 8 Agustus 2023. (Ricardo Stuckert/selebaran Kepresidenan Brasil melalui Reuters)
Delapan negara Amerika Selatan setuju untuk meluncurkan aliansi untuk memerangi penggundulan hutan di Amazon, berjanji pada pertemuan puncak di Brasil untuk menghentikan hutan hujan terbesar di dunia mencapai "titik tanpa harapan".
KTT Organisasi Perjanjian Kerjasama Amazon (ACTO) yang diawasi ketat mengadopsi apa yang oleh negara tuan rumah Brasil disebut sebagai "agenda bersama yang baru dan ambisius" untuk menyelamatkan hutan hujan, penyangga penting terhadap perubahan iklim yang diperingatkan para ahli sedang didorong ke ambang kehancuran.
Anggota kelompok tersebut – Bolivia, Brasil, Kolombia, Ekuador, Guyana, Peru, Suriname, dan Venezuela – menandatangani deklarasi bersama di Belem, di muara Sungai Amazon, menyusun peta jalan berisi hampir 10.000 kata untuk mempromosikan pembangunan berkelanjutan, selesai penggundulan hutan dan melawan kejahatan terorganisir yang memicunya.
Namun KTT tersebut tidak memenuhi tuntutan paling berani dari para pecinta lingkungan dan kelompok Pribumi, termasuk agar semua negara anggota mengadopsi ikrar Brasil untuk mengakhiri penggundulan hutan ilegal pada tahun 2030 dan ikrar Kolombia untuk menghentikan eksplorasi minyak baru.
“Ini langkah pertama, tapi belum ada keputusan konkret, hanya daftar janji,” kata Marcio Astrini, kepala koalisi Observatorium Iklim yang berbasis di Brasil.
It is the first summit in 14 years for the eight-nation group. Photo: dpa
“Planet ini mencair, rekor suhu dipecahkan setiap hari … tidak mungkin bagi delapan pemimpin Amazon untuk tidak membuat deklarasi dengan huruf tebal bahwa deforestasi harus nol,” tambahnya.
Dalam pidato pembukaan KTT dua hari pada hari Selasa, Presiden Brasil Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva menekankan bahwa “memburuknya krisis iklim yang parah” memerlukan tindakan “serentak”.
“It has never been so urgent,” he said in remarks just hours after the European Union’s climate observatory confirmed July had been the hottest month ever recorded.
Colombian President Gustavo Petro meanwhile called for a massive programme to cancel developing countries’ debt in exchange for action to protect the climate, linking the idea to the post-World War II “Marshall Plan.”
“If we’re on the verge of extinction and this is the decade when the big decisions have to be made … then what are we doing, besides giving speeches?” he said.
Berusaha menekan para kepala negara yang berkumpul, ratusan aktivis lingkungan, aktivis, dan demonstran Pribumi berbaris ke tempat konferensi di Belem, mendesak tindakan berani.
Ini adalah pertemuan puncak pertama dalam 14 tahun untuk kelompok delapan negara, yang didirikan pada 1995 oleh negara-negara Amerika Selatan yang berbagi lembah Amazon.
Sapi berkeliaran di area yang baru saja digunduli di Chico Mendes Extractive Reserve, negara bagian Acre, Brasil. Foto arsip: AP
Rumah bagi sekitar 10 persen keanekaragaman hayati Bumi, 50 juta orang, dan ratusan miliar pohon, Amazon yang luas adalah penyerap karbon penting, mengurangi pemanasan global.
Tetapi para ilmuwan memperingatkan penghancuran hutan hujan mendorongnya mendekati titik kritis, di mana pohon akan mati dan melepaskan karbon daripada menyerapnya, dengan konsekuensi bencana bagi iklim.
Pemimpin daerah tampak terbagi dalam beberapa masalah.
Petro Kolombia mendorong negara-negara lain untuk mematuhi janjinya untuk melarang semua eksplorasi minyak baru – subjek yang sensitif bagi beberapa anggota, termasuk Brasil, yang perusahaan minyak milik negara secara kontroversial berusaha mengeksplorasi blok lepas pantai baru di muara Sungai Amazon.
“Mencapai deforestasi nol bahkan tidak cukup untuk menyerap semua emisi karbon kita,” kata Petro.
“Solusinya adalah menghentikan pembakaran batu bara, minyak dan gas.”
KTT tersebut adalah semacam gladi resik untuk pembicaraan iklim PBB 2025, yang akan menjadi tuan rumah Belem.
Kebakaran hutan di negara bagian Amazonas, Brasil. File photo: AP
Presiden Venezuela Nicolas Maduro, yang absen karena infeksi telinga, mengutus Wakil Presiden Delcy Rodriguez, sementara Ekuador, Guyana, dan Suriname diwakili oleh pejabat tinggi.
Arce mendesak negara-negara kaya untuk membantu mendanai upaya melindungi Amazon.
“Semua tanggung jawab atas krisis iklim dan konsekuensinya tidak seharusnya berada di pundak kita dan ekonomi kita. Kami bukan orang yang menciptakan krisis, ”katanya.
KTT tersebut merupakan ujian utama bagi veteran sayap kiri Lula, yang sebelumnya menjabat sebagai presiden dari 2003 hingga 2010 dan kembali menjabat pada Januari, bersumpah “Brasil kembali” dalam perang melawan perubahan iklim, setelah empat tahun penggundulan hutan besar-besaran di bawah kepemimpinannya. pendahulu yang tepat, Jair Bolsonaro.
Kelompok masyarakat adat – yang tanahnya merupakan penyangga penting terhadap perusakan hutan dunia, menurut para ahli – mendesak para pemimpin Amerika Selatan untuk mengambil tindakan tegas.
“Perjuangan kami bukan hanya untuk masyarakat adat,” kata Nemo Guiquita, kepala CONFENIAE konfederasi Adat Ekuador.
“Ini untuk seluruh dunia, sehingga generasi mendatang dapat bertahan hidup di planet ini,” katanya.
Former President Donald Trump has made his 2024 race principally about his own personal grievances — attempting to convince supporters to see themselves in him. Credit... David Degner for The New York Times
As lawyers for Donald J. Trump float various legal arguments to defend him in court against an onslaught of criminal charges, the former president has settled on a political defense: “I’m being indicted for you.”
In speeches, social media posts and ads, Mr. Trump has repeatedly declared the prosecutions a political witch hunt, and he has cast himself as a martyr who is taking hits from Democrats and the government on their behalf.
“They want to take away my freedom because I will never let them take away your freedom,” Mr. Trump told the crowd at a campaign event in New Hampshire on Tuesday. “They want to silence me because I will never let them silence you.”
In two previous campaigns, 2016 and 2020, Mr. Trump presented himself to voters as an insurgent candidate who understood their grievances and promised to fight for them. Now, however, Mr. Trump has made his 2024 race principally about his own personal grievances — attempting to convince supporters to see themselves in him. He continues to argue, falsely, that the 2020 election was stolen from him, and to present it as a theft also against his voters. The legal jeopardy he now faces from multiple indictments, he tells followers, is the sort of persecution that they, too, could suffer.
There is evidence that the message is resonating.
Lorraine Rudd, who attended Mr. Trump’s appearance in New Hampshire, said that after his third indictment last week, in a point-by-point 45-page account of his efforts to overturn the 2020 election, she felt that she, too, could be wrongly prosecuted.
“If they can do it to him and take him down, they can come for me,” Ms. Rudd, a 64-year old Massachusetts resident, said.
She said she firmly agreed with Mr. Trump’s false claim that he won the 2020 election. “What, am I next?” she said.
Takeaways From Trump’s Indictment in the 2020 Election Inquiry
Four charges for the former president. Former President Donald Trump was charged with four counts in connection with his widespread efforts to overturn the 2020 election. The indictment was filed by the special counsel Jack Smith in Federal District Court in Washington. Here are some key takeaways:
The indictment portrayed an attack on American democracy. Smith framed his case against Trump as one that cuts to a key function of democracy: the peaceful transfer of power. By underscoring this theme, Smith cast his effort as an effort not just to hold Trump accountable but also to defend the very core of democracy.
Trump was placed at the center of the conspiracy charges. Smith put Trump at the heart of three conspiracies that culminated on Jan. 6, 2021, in an attempt to obstruct Congress’s role in ratifying the Electoral College outcome. The special counsel argued that Trump knew that his claims about a stolen election were false, a point that, if proved, could be important to convincing a jury to convict him.
Trump didn’t do it alone. The indictment lists six co-conspirators without naming or indicting them. Based on the descriptions provided, they match the profiles of Trump lawyers and advisers who were willing to argue increasingly outlandish conspiracy and legal theories to keep him in power. It’s unclear whether these co-conspirators will be indicted.
Trump’s political power remains strong. Trump may be on trial in 2024 in three or four separate criminal cases, but so far the indictments appear not to have affected his standing with Republican voters. By a large margin, he remains his party’s front-runner in the presidential primaries.
In March, when Mr. Trump announced his candidacy before any indictments, he told supporters, “I am your retribution.” The shift to the recent plaint of “I am being indicted for you” suggests a further tailoring of his campaign pitch, as he paints the criminal cases against him as an effort to prevent him from returning to the White House.
In June, after being charged with retaining government secrets, Mr. Trump told a Republican gathering in Michigan: “Essentially, I’m being indicted for you.”
On Aug. 3, the day of his third indictment, for seeking to overturn the 2020 election, Mr. Trump posted on his social media site that facing fraud and obstruction charges in Washington was an “honor” because, as he wrote in all caps, “I am being arrested for you.”
Portraying himself as a victim of the criminal justice system — and echoing themes from when he faced an investigation over Russian influence in the 2016 campaign and his first impeachment — has served to consolidate Republican support around Mr. Trump.
Since his very first indictment in March, in New York on charges related to payments to a porn star, Republican voters have buoyed Mr. Trump in polls. Congressional Republicans, mindful that the party base has largely embraced Mr. Trump’s lies about the 2020 election, have leaned into investigations of what they call the “weaponization” of federal law enforcement. And many of Mr. Trump’s 2024 Republican rivals have repeated his pledge to fire the F.B.I. director and end the Justice Department’s traditional independence from the White House.
In a New York Times/Siena College poll released last week, before Mr. Trump’s latest indictment, 71 percent of Republican voters said he had not committed serious federal crimes and that Republicans needed to stand behind him.
When a long-shot challenger of Mr. Trump, former Representative Will Hurd of Texas, told a Republican gathering in Iowa recently that the former president was running not to represent people who supported him in 2016 or 2020 but “to stay out of prison,’’ Mr. Hurd was booed.
In public comments, Mr. Trump’s lawyers have indicated they will mount a free-speech defense in the latest case related to the 2020 election. They have argued that anything Mr. Trump said leading up to the Jan. 6, 2021, riot were merely “aspirational” requests. Those include lying about widespread fraud to voters, pressuring Mr. Pence to ignore the Constitution and asking Georgia’s secretary of state to “find” enough additional votes to help him win the state.
The former president and his allies in the conservative media and in Congress are simultaneously waging a battle for public opinion by accusing Hunter Biden, President Biden’s son, of misconduct in business dealings and trying to tie allegations of shady practices to Mr. Biden himself when he was vice president. Investigations led by House Republicans have turned up no evidence of wrongdoing by President Biden, but the effort has convinced many Republicans that Mr. Trump’s indictments are part of a conspiracy to divert scrutiny from Mr. Biden and his family.
On Tuesday, Mr. Trump promised to appoint a special prosecutor to investigate the Bidens, his likely political rival should he win the G.O.P. nomination. He also continued his personal attacks on Jack Smith, the special counsel in the federal cases against Mr. Trump, calling him “deranged.”
And without referring to her by name, he criticized Fani T. Willis, the district attorney in Fulton County, Ga., who is Black, as a “racist.” She is overseeing a separate investigation into alleged efforts by Mr. Trump and his allies to interfere with the election in the state, where he lost to President Biden.
With Mr. Trump dominating every Republican primary poll, a few 2024 rivals have lately been more direct in challenging him on the subject of the 2020 election.
Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida said this week that “of course” Mr. Trump lost re-election in his most blunt acknowledgment yet of a reality he has tiptoed around for three years. Former Vice President Mike Pence, who could be a star witness in a trial focused on Jan. 6, said that Mr. Trump pushed him to “essentially overturn the election.”
Roughly an hour northwest of Mr. Trump’s rally on Tuesday night, former Gov. Chris Christie of New Jersey, one of Mr. Trump’s toughest critics in the race, mocked the former president’s proclamations.
A Guide to the Various Trump Investigations
Confused about the inquiries and legal cases involving former President Donald Trump? We’re here to help.
Key Cases and Inquiries: The former president faces several investigations at both the state and the federal levels, into matters related to his business and political careers. Here is a close look at each.
Case Tracker: Trump is at the center of four criminal investigations. Keep track of the developments in each here.
What if Trump Is Convicted?: Will any of the proceedings hinder Trump’s 2024 presidential campaign? Can a convicted felon even run for office? Here is what we know, and what we don’t know.
“As I’m walking around Ukraine, he’s waltzing into a courtroom in Washington, D.C., to tell us that he’s being indicted for us. For us! How lucky are we! That we have such a selfless, magnanimous leader,” Mr. Christie said, prompting laughter and a sprinkling of applause. “Because you know that the government was coming to get you and on their way to get you, lo and behold, they came across Donald Trump and they said, ‘Okay, we won’t get you, we’ll get him, for you.’”
The narrative of unfair persecution by the criminal justice system, which Republicans as the party of law and order once staunchly defended, has taken strong root among Mr. Trump’s supporters.
Steve Vicere, who drove all the way from his home in Florida to see Mr. Trump in New Hampshire, said the indictments were a “diversion” and represented attempts by Democrats to stop Mr. Trump from regaining power.
“Everyday freedoms are being systematically taken away, and nobody ever gets held accountable,” Mr. Vicere, 54, said.
Dean Brady, a limo driver from Newmarket, N.H., embraced Mr. Trump’s message that he was taking a hit on behalf of his supporters.
“He’s representing us,” Mr. Brady, 60, said. “He’s not in it for himself, he could quit this and just go on with life. He’s up there because he loves America and he cares about us.”
But not all Republican voters embrace Mr. Trump’s sense of victimhood. Jean Davis, who attended a barbecue in Iowa on Sunday to hear seven of Mr. Trump’s G.O.P. rivals, said that his latest indictment ought to disqualify him as a candidate.
Her husband, Russ Davis, who supports Mr. DeSantis, said that if Mr. Trump were to become the nominee, his chances of defeating Mr. Biden would be “next to nothing.”
“There are so many people on the Republican side who just can’t get past his loud mouth,’’ he said.
Nick Corasaniti covers national politics. He was one of the lead reporters covering Donald Trump's campaign for president in 2016 and has been writing about presidential, congressional, gubernatorial and mayoral campaigns for The Times since 2011.
Trip Gabriel is a national correspondent. He covered the past two presidential campaigns and has served as the Mid-Atlantic bureau chief and a national education reporter. He formerly edited the Styles sections. He joined The Times in 1994.
Sebanyak 67 ribu guru dan pendidik non PNS akan kembali berpeluang untuk memperoleh bantuan insentif pada tahun 2023 ini. Berbeda dengan Tunjangan Profesi Guru (TPG) dan Tunjangan Khusus Guru (TKG) yang ditujukan bagi guru non PNS yang sudah memiliki sertifikat pendidik, bantuan Insentif diberikan pada guru dan pendidik non PNS yang belum memiliki sertifikat pendidik.
Guru dan pendidik non PNS yang berhak menerima bantuan insentif ini ada di semua jenjang pendidikan, mulai dari pendidik Paud Nonformal (KB/TPA), guru Taman Kanak-Kanak, guru pendidikan dasar, sampai guru pendidikan menengah dan pendidikan khusus.
“Yang penting para pendidik ini Non Aparatur Sipil Negara dan belum memiliki sertifikat pendidik, serta tidak berstatus sebagai kepala sekolah,” kata Sri Lestariningsih, Subkoordinator Aneka Tunjangan PAUD dan Dikdas pada Pusat Layanan Pembiayaan Pendidikan (Puslapdik), Kementerian Pendidikan, Kebudayaan, Riset, dan Teknologi (Kemendikbudristek).
Sri Lestariningsih yang akrab disapa Bu Ning ini mengungkapkan hal tersebut pada Rapat Koordinasi Pelaksanaan Program Pemberian Aneka Tunjangan Guru Non PNS dengan Pemerintah daerah Semester 1 Tahun Anggaran 2023 di Jakarta, 2 Agustus 2023 kemarin.
Rapat koordinasi tersebut dihadiri sekitar 168 operator SIMTUN dari dinas pendidikan kabupaten/kota, dan propinsi di berbagai propinsi.
Untuk memperoleh bantuan insentif tersebut, dikatakan Ning, guru yang bersangkutan harus secara berkala melakukan pembaruan data di aplikasi Dapodik. Berdasarkan data di Dapodik itulah, Puslapdik melakukan sinkronisasi data guru untuk penetapan calon penerima bantuan insentif.
Untuk guru di pendidikan formal, seperti guru TK, guru pendidikan dasar, menengah dan khusus, usulan penerima bantuan dilakukan oleh dinas melalui SIM-ANTUN kepada Puslapdik dan selanjutnya Puslapdik melalui verifikasi dan validasi sebelum ditetapkan melalui SK.
“Untuk pendidik di pendidikan nonformal, seperti KB dan TPA, usulan diambil dari DAPODIK, setelah sinkronisasi Puslapdik mengirim data calon penerima ke dinas pendidikan untuk kemudian oleh dinas diverifikasi dan divalidasi, hasil verifikasi dan validasi selanjutnya diusulkan kepada Puslapdik, “papar Ning.
Seperti tahun-tahun sebelumnya, dinas mengusulkan guru sebagai calon penerima bantuan insentif paling lambat akhir November 2023. Sedangkan Puslapdik menerbitkan SK penetapan mulai Oktober sampai Desember.
Setelah SK terbit, Puslapdik selanjutnya melakukan pembayaran bantuan yang juga dilakukan sejak Oktober sampai Desember.
“Pembayaran bantuan insentif ini dilakukan sekaligus selama setahun atau 12 bulan dan terhitung mulai Januari 2023, “kata Ning.
Bantuan insentif bagi pendidik KB/TPA ditetapkan sebesar Rp200 ribu perbulan sedangkan untuk guru TK, Dikdas, Dikmen, dan Diksus sebesar Rp300 ribu per bulan.
“Jadi pembayaran untuk pendidik KB dan PAUD misalnya, Rp200 ribu kali 12 bulan, sebesar Rp2,4 juta, sedangkan untuk guru Dikdas, Dikmen dan Diksus Rp300 ribu kali 12 bulan, yakni Rp3,6 juta, “jelas Ning.
Penyaluran Bantuan Insentif Tahun 2023 mengacu pada Peratururan Sekretaris Jenderal Kementerian Pendidikan, Kebudayaan, Riset, dan Teknologi Nomor 11 Tahun 2023 tentang Petunjuk Teknis Penyaluran Bantuan Insentif bagi Pendidik Non ASN pada PAUD, Dikdas, dan Dikmen Tahun Anggaran 2023.
Penyebab tidak memperoleh bantuan insentif
Dijelaskan Ning, dari sebanyak 67 ribu guru yang masuk nominasi penerima bantuan insentif, setelah dilakukan verifikasi dan validasi, kemungkinan akan selalu ada sebagian guru yang tidak layak menerima bantuan.
“Tahun 2022 lalu misalnya, dari 67 ribu guru dan pendidikan yang dinominasikan, setelah dilakukan verifikasi dan validasi, ada sebanyak 1.896 guru dan pendidik yang tidak layak menerima tunjangan, “katanya.
Penyebab guru dan pendidik tersebut tidak layak menerima bantuan karena berbagai hal, seperti sudah meninggal, terdata sebagai PNS, NIK tidak valid, diketahui sudah tidak aktif mengajar, baik karena sekolahnya sudah ditutup, bukan berstatus guru, memiliki sertifikat pendidik, bahkan ada yang menyatakan tidak bersedia atau menolak menerima tunjangan.
“Penyebab lain adalah masa kerja kurang dari 17 tahun untuk guru di pendidikan formal dan kurang dari 11 tahun untuk pendidik di KB/TPA, “kata Ning.
Ditegaskan Ning, guru yang dinyatakan tidak layak menerima bantuan tidak bisa digantikan oleh guru lain.
“Tidak bisa digantikan, sebab data guru dan pendidik yang sudah memenuhi syarat dan masuk nominasi itu sudah seluruhnya ditarik dari DAPODIK, jadi tidak ada lagi yang bisa diusulkan sebagai pengganti, “ungkap Ning.
Menurut Ning, proses penyaluran bantuan insentif guru formal bisa diakses oleh guru melalui info GTK, sedangkan proses pencairan bisa dipantau Dinas melalui Sistem Informasi Pembayaran atau Simbar non PNS.
“Tahun 2023 ini, informasi terkait penyaluran dan pencairan Aneka tunjangan Guru Non PNS bisa dipantau melalui SMS Blast melalui nomor HP guru yang tercatat di Dapodik, karena itu guru dihimbau agar mendaftarkan Nomor HP yang aktif di DAPODIK, memastikan HP tercukupi pulsanya, dan jangan sering ganti nomor HP, “kata Ning.
More than 60% of Nigeriens deem Russia to be the country's most reliable foreign policy partner, the Economist reported, citing data from a survey conducted by Premise Data.
According to the poll, less than 10% of Nigeriens named Saudi Arabia as being the country’s most loyal partner, and about 5% of respondents named the US. Even fewer respondents listed China, France and the UN. According to the results of the survey, none of the respondents mentioned the United Kingdom.
At the same time, while 54% of respondents opposed foreign intervention in Niger, half of those who favored such a scenario said they would support Russian intervention, so long as the country sides with the rebels. US intervention was supported by 16% of respondents, the African Union by 14% and the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) by only 4%.
The poll was conducted among highly educated male citizens, 62% of whom live in the capital, Niamey. Nearly 80% of respondents supported the coup.
On July 26, military rebels in Niger announced the removal of President Mohamed Bazoum, closure of national borders, introduction of a curfew and suspension of the constitution, as well as a ban on political parties. On July 28, they declared that General Abdourahmane Tchiani had become head of state. During the coup, Tchiani headed the presidential guard, units of which physically seized President Bazoum and continue to hold him and his family at his residence.
At an emergency summit on July 30, ECOWAS leaders demanded that the rebels reinstate the president and restore constitutional order to the country. The ECOWAS states gave Niger rebels one week to meet these demands. On August 4, the militaries of the ECOWAS member states announced that their emergency meeting had developed a contingency plan for intervention in Niger.
The ECOWAS ultimatum expired on August 7. However, the Al Arabiya TV channel reports, citing a statement by the regional organization's defense ministers, that the ECOWAS military leadership recognized the inadvisability of using force against Niger. At the same time, it decided to increase sanctions pressure to force the rebels to release Bazoum.
Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova lashed out at Washington over claims that Moscow has rejected peace negotiations with Kiev.
On Monday, US State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller said at a press briefing that “There are no peace negotiations going on with Russia right now, because Russia has refused to engage in meaningful peace negotiations.”
Later that day, Zakharova wrote on Telegram: “They know perfectly well that they told [Ukrainian President Vladimir] Zelensky to withdraw from peace talks in April 2022, they caused Kiev’s ban on talks with Russia, adopted in September 2022, they have been declaring all year that it’s not the right time for talks, but they still blame Russia anyway.”
Zakharova also advised Miller to read an interview of US Secretary of State Antony Blinken that he gave in April. She was apparently referring to comments Blinken gave to the Funke Media Group, in which he said he did not support the idea of beginning negotiations, while hailing Kiev’s counteroffensive.
Last week, senior officials from more than 40 countries took part in a summit in Saudi Arabia regarding the situation in Ukraine. Russia was not invited to attend, and called any negotiations without its participation “pointless.”
After the talks, Kiev said it had rejected all points of compromise and had not given up on its ‘peace formula’ – a set of ten demands amounting to unconditional surrender on the part of Russia, which Moscow sees as “a useless ultimatum” that only serves to prolong the conflict.
Last week, the Russian Defense Ministry estimated that during June and July, Ukraine sustained losses of more than 43,000 troops as it continued its counteroffensive against Russian positions. According to the ministry’s data, over 4,900 pieces of heavy weaponry were destroyed during this period of time.
Medvedev confident Russia to vanquish enemies, achieve peace on its own terms
Russia is strong enough to achieve all of the goals of its special military operation despite facing an almost direct confrontation with all of NATO, Russian Security Council Deputy Chairman Dmitry Medvedev wrote on Telegram.
He drew parallels between the current conflict and the developments that took place in South Ossetia in August 2008.
"The entire NATO system is almost openly fighting against us. We are strong enough to achieve all of the goals of the special military operation. Just like in August 2008, our enemies will be vanquished and Russia will secure peace on its own terms. Victory will be ours!" said Medvedev, who served as president of Russia in 2008-2012.
On August 8, 2008, Georgia mounted an overnight armed attack against South Ossetia. Russia intervened to protect civilians, many of whom had obtained Russian citizenship, and its peacekeeping contingent, which had been stationed in the region since 1992. In a five-day armed conflict, more than one thousand people, including 72 Russian peacekeepers, lost their lives. On August 26, 2008, Russia recognized the independence of South Ossetia and Abkhazia, another former autonomous region of Georgia
U.S. government offices in the Washington D.C. area closed early on Monday because of threatening weather as forecasters warned people across the eastern U.S. of possible tornadoes, damaging winds and large hailstones.
Fast-moving thunderstorms and powerful winds toppled trees and knocked out power for nearly 200,000 homes and businesses in neighboring Maryland and Virginia, according to tracking website PowerOutage.us. As many as 800,000 customers had lost power in the southern and mid-Atlantic states.
At least two people died, thousands of U.S. flights were canceled or delayed, and more than 1.1 million homes and businesses lost power Monday as severe storms, including hail and lightning, moved through the eastern U.S.
The National Weather Service issued a tornado watch for the greater D.C. area, lasting until 9 p.m. A special Weather Service statement warned, “There is a significant threat for damaging and locally destructive hurricane-force winds, along with the potential for large hail and tornadoes, even strong tornadoes.”
The storms’ spread was massive, with tornado watches and warnings posted across 10 states from Tennessee to New York. The National Weather Service said more than 29.5 million people were under a tornado watch Monday afternoon.
The Federal Aviation Administration ordered departing flights grounded at airports in New York, Washington, Philadelphia, Atlanta and Baltimore because of thunderstorms. The FAA said it was rerouting aircraft around the storms as much as possible.
Libraries, museums, the National Zoo, pools and other municipal and federal services in the Washington area were also closing early. The U.S. Office of Personnel Management said federal employees had to depart no later than 3 p.m.
FlightAware, a flight tracking site, said more than 2,600 U.S. flights had been canceled, including 102 at Washington Reagan National Airport and 35 at Washington Dulles. Another 7,700 U.S. flights had been delayed.
